The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for stepping the mast of the sailboat and, in particular, to permit the mast to be stepped by a single person. By stepping is meant manually lifting the mast from a horizontal to an erect position and then holding it in said erect position.
Most small sail boats are provided with a pivotably attached mast, permitting the mast to be raised or lowered in a seemingly simple fashion. To illustrate, attention is drawn to FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings in which the mast 10 of a sailboat 12 is mounted so that its lower end is pivotable in a footing 14 so that it may be raised for running at sea, or lowered during foul weather or when in port. The raised mast 10 is supported by a headstay 16 which slants towards the bow 18 of the boat, a pair of side stays 20 and a backstay 22 which slants toward the aft of the boat and which is normally tied to the transom 24 through a bridal 26 and a tensioning device 28. In this condition, the mast is maintained upright with a proper degree of sag so that when the sail is under load, the sail will properly fill with air without breaking the mast.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,224,890 a complex tensioning system for maintaining the backstay 22 under control is disclosed. In this patent, the backstay 22 is fixedly connected to a yoke from which a triangular bridle cable extends at an angle and is secured to the boat transom. Tension is variably applied to the bridle cable by an array of sheaves and pulleys which modify the angle at which the bridle cable extends so as to vary the distance between the yoke and the transom and thereby modifying the tension on the backstay. A simpler system, in common use today, is illustrated in FIGS. 2-4 of the accompanying drawings. In this system, the end 30 of the backstay is provided with an eyelet fitting 32 (or a thimble splice) while the bridle cable 26 comprises a single length of rope or wire on which is secured one end 34 of a clevis bracket 36 having elongated parallel arms 38 each provided with a series of aligned paired holes 40 through one pair of which a retaining pin 42 passes being removably held thereon by a releasable cotter pin 44, the backstay being first placed over the pin 42. By selecting a predetermined pair of holes 40, through which to place the retaining pin 42, the length of the backstay may be adjusted and the mast held under selected tension, relative to the forestay and the side stays, respectively.
In either of the aforementioned systems, as well as any other known prior art systems, at least two people are required to step the mast and attach it to the transom. At least one person must lift and hold the mast, and at least one person must affect the attachment of the backstay to the yoke or bridle or rail transom. Thus, even the smallest boat requires a crew of two persons, each having to exert considerable effort in carrying out the stepping and tying of the mast and the tying of the backstay. Furthermore, the stepping of the mast is made independently of the tensioning of the backstay which must be effected as a separate step after the mast is raised.
A further disadvantage of the known system lies in the fact that the tension on the mast cannot be easily adjusted once the mast is raised since again two persons are necessary, one to uncouple the backstay from the clevis bracket, the other to at least hold the mast in its upright position against falling down. This is necessary in order to release the retaining pin and to shift the retaining pin and backstay to another of the transversely paired holes in the clevis bracket.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a simple economical device by which the mast of a small sailboat may be stepped and its tension adjusted in a single step and by only one person.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus by which the mast of the sailboat can be stepped with less effort and energy than that required heretofore.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus by which the tensioning on the stay of a sailboat mast can be adjusted in situ by a single person.
These objects together with other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following disclosure.